Take-Two does well in 2008, lowers expectations for 2009

All throughout this year, special attention has been paid to certain game developers and publishers. A lot of consolidation has happened recently and it seemed at one point that Take-Two would also become another in a long list of companies under the immense fold of EA. Starting with a $2 billion offer that ended up becoming a hostile affair. Take-Two remained steadfast and fought off EA, committing to do their development and publishing independently. Months later, how is the company faring and where do they see themselves going?

Depending on how you look at it, the company is either doing amazingly good or simply “OK”. From a pure sales standpoint, the year was very good for them. Their favored developer, Rockstar, and its hugely popular GTA 4, ended up producing $710 million in sales, representing the overwhelming majority of their total revenue. This brought the company into a very profitable state, a change from 2007, where they operated at a loss. They've also gotten two large contracts with Rockstar to help keep them going next year.

Despite that fairly optimistic numbers, the company itself posted disappointing news to their investors, claiming they expect to see a drop in sales in 2009. On top of that, they also showed that the company actually lost money in Q4, despite the game industry itself being hugely successful. As a result, Take-Two's stock value plummeted, dropping 21% in a single day. However, the company still expects to see at least some profit for 2009, despite the lowered expectations.